The Best Pieces I'll (Probably) Never Play

I'm sure most musicians have at least one...a piece they could listen to on repeat for hours, that excites them about music, that they walk around singing and conducting...but it's for an instrument or ensemble completely outside their idiom. I have three such works- I'd love to play them, but can't figure out how to or don't want to make them work for clarinet for one reason or another.
1. String Quartet in F major, Maurice Ravel
The version on my ipod: Performed by the Dante Quartet
I love this piece. Especially the second movement, arguably the most famous part of it. Ravel's only string quartet is one of the only works that I'm fairly certain I will never play. Mostly, because I simply don't play strings. But also because I feel like arranging a string quartet for winds would destroy its character. The pizzicato of the second movement is what really brings it to life and I simply think it would be hard to do justice to the pizz./arco contrast. The closest I came to playing this piece was reading through a piano transcription of it, but even that didn't feel right.

2. Concierto de Aranjuez, Joaquin Rodrigo
The version on my ipod: Performed by Carlos Bonell and L'Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal conducted by Charles Dutoit (though I really want versions by John Williams and Angel Romero)
There is a glimmer of hope for the next two pieces, as I hope to someday play them as an orchestra member. I don't think I could even try to arrange this for clarinet; guitar is about as foreign as instruments get for me. To me, this piece feels like it should accompany a screen play. The story that plays in my mind as I listen to it is of two young lovers, meeting in some exotic place in Europe, but torn apart when one of them travels to America to be a musician or something equally lofty and romantic. It made me smile when I found out it was about Rodrigo and his wife's honeymoon, and the gardens of Aranjuez in Spain. With a little more research, I found that an arrangement of what seems to be the second movement for clarinet, described somewhat pretentiously here.

3. Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Sergei Rachmaninoff
The version on my ipod: Performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andre Previn
Ideas for arranging this for clarinet/piano have been rattling around in my head for a while. The other night I finally found the two-piano version and I think it made my brain explode. I knew there were a lot of notes in it, but at this point in time, I don't think I could arrange it without losing too many of them, or relegating them to the poor piano 2 part, who is already playing a Rachmaninoff orchestra reduction. Last night I was discussing other sets of Paganini variations with folks on twitter, trying to figure out of any would be more accessible. This piece for 2 pianos by Witold Lutoslawski and this piece for solo piano by Robert Muczynski were mentioned. I do love the Paganini theme, but I've always been drawn to Rachmaninoff's setting of it.

So, these are my big three...the pieces that I'd kill to play. Do you have one?

Playing Hurt

I've done it before...more than I should admit, really. After three years of drum corps, you tend to develop a tolerance to pain/discomfort that's unhealthy. I can't tell you how many times I heard people being asked, "Are you hurt, or hurting?" if they tried to sit out. No one ever asked me that. I never missed a rep in 3 summers. If you're not familiar with drum corps, think marching band but with all the athleticism of any sport. I ran more when I marched with Jersey Surf than I did when I played field hockey in high school. Check it out on www.dci.org.

Naturally, my experience there has carried over to practicing in general- you think, "I just have to push through a few more minutes..." Then a few more minutes pass, and soon you've pushed yourself too far. I nearly did this tonight; I was playing a right hand study from the Opperman daily studies and my right wrist kept popping weirdly, and I thought, "Just a little more..." I had to make myself stop and go home. No point in practicing technique when it's just going to hurt me.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm currently working the kind of manual labor job that I've always dreaded. Being a pianist/clarinetist my entire life, it's not like my wrists had never hurt, but starting a few weeks ago, my left hand started feeling asleep and both wrists have had a dull pain that doesn't really go away. I've always been terrified of carpal tunnel, but now it seems to be a legitimate threat. I'm going to the doctor to get it checked out tomorrow, but even if she says it's likely carpal tunnel, I have no choice but to carry on at my job. In the mean time, I've purchased this book, at the suggestion of a fellow blogger/musician on Twitter.

As far as treatment, I had been using heat to try to relax my wrists, but with limited success. Tonight, I finally iced them and it actually seems to be helping. Also, I'm planning on restructuring my days- my daily ritual has been work 9:30-6, make dinner, go practice. I'm going to start waking up at 7 to practice in the morning, then my body can have all evening to recover. We'll see how all this works, and what my doctor has to say tomorrow.